Location*3, Part III
In our previous installments, we saw a very small house priced under a million, and a very large house priced (and in contract within a month) under eight of those millions. Since the first home was a 2/1, and the second was an 8/4.5, we can surmise that getting four times the rooms should probably cost four times the cash. But it didn’t. It cost eight times as much. Why?
One of these homes was not like the other, one of these homes doesn’t belong, can you guess which house was not like the other, because its location was wrong! Yes, the house that’s one eighth instead of one fourth the asking price is on the wrong side of the great divide better known as Middlefield Road.
Or is it? Let’s take a look at today’s house, on the same side (but not the same neighborhood) as the garden shed. It’s not too big or too small, but is it just right?
1270 LINCOLN Ave Palo Alto, CA 94301
$2,568,000
Beds: 4
Baths: 4
Sq. Ft.: 3,040
$/Sq. Ft.: $845
Lot Size: 9,711 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Spanish
Stories: 2
View: Neighborhood
Year Built: 1985
Community: Crescent Park
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81015526
Source: MLSListings
Status: Pending Without Release This listing is in escrow, past inspections and waiting for loan funding. "Without Release" indicates that the current buyer doesn’t need to sell a home to buy the new home.
On Redfin: 111 daysGORGEOUS SPANISH STYLE HOME ON A LG PRIVATE LOT IN PREMIER CRESCENT PK NR DNTOWN. COURTYARD ENTRY & SPECTACULAR SETTING IS W/ MAGICAL GARDENS, PATIOS & FOUNTAINS. SPACIOUS LIGHT-FILLED FLR PLAN OFFERS APPR 3000SF, HDWD FLRS THRUOUT, HI CEILINGS, CROWN MOLDINGS, SPACIOUS RMS, EXTENSIVE USE OF LIMESTONE, MARBLE, GRANITE. LG ATTACHED 2-CAR ATTACHED GARAGE. EACH BDRM HAS ITS OWN PRIVATE BATH
I wish the realtard would stop SHOUTING at me! Even the agent for the broom closet had the courtesy to use lower case. And for two and a half mil, don’t you think they could spring for spelling out all the words? No, I do not want to say “hi” to the ceilings or find out what’s in that flour plan. Wondering how spacious the rams are. Or are they rums? Maybe it belonged to a chip designer and they’re ROMs. At least the $8M house had “roooms” so I could guess what they rly wr. But good move spelling out “LIMESTONE, MARBLE, GRANITE.” PRIORITIES. How does Limestone and Marble and Rock, Oh My! sound for this listing?
One more thing. Do you think the GARAGE is ATTACHED? I want to b sr.
Now, this property is taking a price hit for several reasons. First, it’s extremely close to a rather busy street:
Next, we already have the ideal formula for bedroooms to bathroooms from our previous two homes: 2 br for each ba. This house violates the golden realty ratio by having excess ba, so twice as many toilets to scrub.
These two flaws could easily knock twenty or thirty percent off the price of a home. Another oddity could pull it down some more: the home is advertised as a two story, but the second one is very well hidden. So well hidden it may be apocryphal, legendary, or really creative marketing (a fancy term for “lying”). As in: the second story is telling you the house has two floors.
No second floor here…
Where could it be?
Not in the COURTYARD ENTRY & SPECTACULAR SETTING IS W/ MAGICAL GARDENS, PATIOS & FOUNTAINS. 
Perhaps it is at the end of these railroad tracks:
No sign of a staircase inside, either. Is this place really two stories? Better take another ten percent off our appraisal just to be sure.
So why is this house about a third the asking price of the Vampire Frat House when it’s 60% the size? The corrections above don’t add up to 67% off. I’ll tell you. Location, location, location. This house is in Crescent Park, which is simply on the Wrong Side.
One last apples-to-apples comparison. In the other neighborhoods, find the worst vehicles nearby. Here’s what passes for hillbilly in Crescent Park:
It’s a toss up between this, which is mitigated by being parked in front of the house being sold. So maybe the sellers will take it away. What the heck is it, a Lada? A Trabant?
Two-stroke engine mystery
vehicle versus… the horror of public transportation on this very street!
So much for a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Stay tuned for the next installment of Wrong Side Right City.
July 29th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Sold for $2.4M.
July 29th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Uh oh. It didn’t double every ten years. I guess 94301 really isn’t RBA.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:19 am
A triple after 22 years? I would have thought the over-bidding would have taken this up to where it needs to be.
Maybe it was in poor repair: the owner didn’t change the light bulbs, maybe?
July 29th, 2010 at 9:26 am
The second floor got flushed with Drano®.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Houses are supposed to have one bathroom for every bedroom plus a bathroom for every major room such as the living room, family room, and so on. Extra capacity is needed because realtors and home debtors are so full of __it. Besides, crappers get clogged all the time, right? Doesn’t yours? This place needs at least one more bathroom to get the best value. That is around a half million right there. *flush*
July 29th, 2010 at 9:33 am
I agree that this house needs one more crapper. With the current setup, one of the bedrooms has to share with guests. Not good. Just think how jealous that bedroom (occupant) will be of the other ones who have a private bath all to themselves?
July 29th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Hi! If anyone is searching for a home/apt in the bay area you can try http://homes.trovit.com , hope it’s helpful!
July 29th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Strange that a SamTrans bus was pictured there. The 280 and 281 run on University Ave, but there’s no bus on Lincoln.
July 29th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
>>Yes, the house that’s one eighth instead of one fourth the asking price is on the wrong side of the great divide better known as Middlefield Road.
Let’s take a look at what’s happening with these homes on the wrong side of Middlefield:
1211 Fulton: Pending
707 Kingsley: Pending
725 Lincoln: Pending
1227 Fulton: Soon Pending
Basically, the market’s appetite for Palo Alto can be described as insatiable, regardless of economy, regardless of being on either side of Middlefield or on Middlefield. Yes, that’s right, a home on Middlefield priced at $1.6M still sells.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
The house “on” Middlefield is on the “right” side too, assuming the pointer on the map is accurate.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
It’s also on the right side of University Ave, if you ask me..
July 29th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Yes, that’s right, a home on Middlefield priced at $1.6M still sells.
—–
But Real Estater carefully omitted one important information. That home on Middlefield was on market for last TWO years – since July 2008! What was he doing? Testing market?
July 29th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Let’s take a look at what’s happening with these homes on the wrong side of Middlefield:
1211 Fulton: Pending
707 Kingsley: Pending
725 Lincoln: Pending
1227 Fulton: Soon Pending
—–
LOL!
“Soon pending”! Isn’t that Real Estater’s own home? That’s why he knows that it is in “soon pending” status.
Real Estater bought it for $1.7M in 2007 and now trying to sell it for only $1.35M? But hey, look at the positive side – it is “soon pending”.
July 30th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
“Houses are supposed to have one bathroom for every bedroom plus a bathroom for every major room such as the living room, family room, and so on.”
Rich people are different from you and me. They are incontinent.
July 31st, 2010 at 11:02 am
>>Isn’t that Real Estater’s own home? That’s why he knows that it is in “soon pending” status.
Congratulations to Pralay for finally accepting that RE lives in his favorite zip code. Getting out of denial stage is a significant baby step. Now he just needs to go see his first open house, and eventually get a grip on the market condition.
July 31st, 2010 at 11:20 am
Translation of #15: I totally screwed up by mentioning “soon pending” status of my home (which is listed $350K less than 2007 purchase price). So I am going to deflect it by changing the the topic.
July 31st, 2010 at 11:46 am
Pralay,
Please come see my open house today! Cookies are awaiting you!
July 31st, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Please come see my open house today! Cookies are awaiting you!
Cookies! Wow, that’s going to raise the offer by at least $300K.
July 31st, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Please come see my open house today! Cookies are awaiting you!
—–
Actually today I was in your open house because I had to use bathroom (and open houses are perfect for this purpose). But your house has serious plumbing problem. It seems you haven’t used Drano for a while. Or may be too many open home visitors are using your bathroom.
July 31st, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Pralay says,
>> because I had to use bathroom
Would you tell your wife to wash her hands before cooking?
August 1st, 2010 at 12:07 am
Would you tell your wife to wash her hands before cooking?
—
We don’t cook in Friday and weekend. So it got to be something from new edition in University Ave – Crepevine, which is an obnoxious version (hey, it’s Palo Alto! What do you expect?) of SF/Berkeley Crepevine.
August 1st, 2010 at 12:47 am
Pralay,
Think about the bright side. At least you can afford to eat in Palo Alto.
August 1st, 2010 at 9:46 am
Real Estater- “Pralay, Think about the bright side. At least you can afford to eat in Palo Alto.”
Not everyone can afford those $50k-$100k losses on houses, even if it is only 1/5 to 1/10 of not a lot of money.
August 1st, 2010 at 10:50 am
Think about the bright side. At least you can afford to eat in Palo Alto.
——
Yes, I am definitely thinking about the bright side. A place where most of the customers are actually students, the affordability of that place is definitely something to think about and brag about.
August 1st, 2010 at 11:00 am
Not everyone can afford those $50k-$100k losses on houses, even if it is only 1/5 to 1/10 of not a lot of money.
—–
SEA, there is a reason this guy spells Starbucks as “Star Bucks” – he cannot afford to go to such a coffee shop and see the name of the shop himself, although one is within a walking distance from him. These guys are known as this.
August 1st, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Pralay,
Think about the bright side. At least you can afford to eat in Palo Alto.
Typically, people who aren’t mortgage-slaves can afford to eat in Palo Alto.
I eat in Palo Alto all the time. Hell, I even piss on your streets when I stumble my way home from the bars in a drunken stupor at 3 am.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Pralay says,
“Soon pending”!
>>LOL!
Check it now. Who was right all along?
August 4th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Real Estater’s home is selling after being in market for one and half years! Wow! His home is sold like a
hotcakecoldcake – with a loss of at least $350K!Where is the overbid? Don’t tell us that his kids won’t be able to attend college.
August 4th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Is the forum being moderated now?
August 4th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Did you end up on the wrong side of the spam filter?
It bears rephrasing: Location, Location, Location. Make a habit to choose the correct side.
August 4th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
It’s funny that guy from RGA is talking about location, location, location.
August 4th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Is the forum being moderated now?
—-
Burbed used to do it in past.
August 4th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
It’s funny that guy from RGA is talking about location, location, location.
—-
This is what happens when a RBA home goes to “soon pending” after being in market for one and half year.
August 5th, 2010 at 12:13 am
#31 – I’m here to help, I can’t help it.
Anyway, can we talk about another street than Lincoln next time? The power lines on the wrong side look unsightly – posts about Palo Alto deserve better.
August 5th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Wow, it must suck to be on the wrong side of Middlefield and now the wrong side of Lincoln too!
September 27th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Sold for $2,400,000. Redfin shows 2 transactions: one on July 22 ($2,375,000) and one on July 23.
September 27th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
I guess 5%/year isn’t that bad for the wrong side of Middlefield.